A Few Good Things

We didn’t do anything special, but lots of little things were nice about it.

Like, I went shopping for trousers – thanks to my ever-expanding waistline, nothing in my cupboard fits me any more – and I actually found two very nice pairs that fit perfectly. Of course, the first ten pairs I tried on were all wrong. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when are all these big, hotshot designers going to realize that a woman with a 32-inch waist is not going to have drainpipe lets to slip into those straw-sized trousers and jeans? And when are those same designers also going to realize that not all women who go shopping for trousers or jeans are anorexic 16-year-olds with body measurements as small as their IQs? (Actually I don’t mean to cast aspersion on the IQ or any other value of anorexic 16-year-olds, they just happened to get in the way of my ire against designers.)

And just why have pleats gone out of fashion? Why? Why? WHYYYYYYY!? Pleats, you see, are fully functional. They serve the purpose of fitting a narrower waist that expands into a fuller tummy. Without pleats, you either have trousers that are bursting across the tummy region, or hanging a good two inches loose at the waist. And belting up two whole inches of waistband is just no fun.

So when I found trousers that had pleats, belt tabs, pockets, and a nice fabric and colour too, I naturally bought two of them.

So you want to know where I found these perfect-fit, pleated trousers? Obviously, they were in the men’s section. Men, after all, are allowed to have bulging bellies and tree-trunk legs, only women are expected to look like chopsticks with a head. Why I didn’t look in the men’s section in the first place is a mystery to me. But having found them, paid for them, and got them stitched up at the right length, my only disappointment was that I couldn’t have bought a third one, in a light brown, tan, or cream shade. Apparently, those shades are also out of fashion.

But at least I now have enough trousers that fit so that I don’t have to fall back to the last resort of wearing saris to office.

I accomplished another important task on the same expedition. I’d received a couple of messages telling me to go register for some Income Tax thing online. Strangely enough, in a moment of foolish idleness, I did this. As part of the registration process, you have to get the physical verification of self and PAN card done by some authorized people in various agencies. So anything that requires me to go somewhere and that too within working hours has a high likelihood of not happening in the foreseeable future. But by a combination of determination and a happy set of circumstances, I managed to get this particular task done.

I had another couple of tasks to do as well. My boss is coming to town this week and she wanted to know if I could pick up a kilo of Ooty chocolates for her. Considering that we lived so close to Ooty chocolates for so many years and considering that I’m one of the world’s leading chocaholics, it’s very strange that I have never actually been into an Ooty chocolates outlet. But now, of course, I had to go. So on Sunday morning, I drove all the way to Ooty chocolates and what a load of happiness that was! Not only did I pick up what my boss had asked for, but I also bought a half kilo of extra dark chocolate all for myself. 70% cocoa! Now I don’t have to wait for Amit to go abroad any more!

This week looks like being a super-busy week. On Monday, a new colleague is joining office and Tuesday to Friday my boss will be here. That means, meetings, trainings, conversations and so on, in addition to the usual work. On Wednesday evening, the kids will participate in a show organized by their daycare/summer camp. Apparently, they are going to sing and dance the Itsy Bitsy Spider song. They have to wear some fancy costume and all, which, thankfully, is all being handled by the organizers; we only have to pay the money. But it does mean that they have to be at the venue at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. So that means, I have to leave office at 3.

As if that weren’t enough, a colleague has a house-warming party on Wednesday. Lunch. That means a good couple of hours – or more – away from work. And it also means buying a housewarming gift. At least that got done easily enough over the weekend – I got a crystal Ganesha that is so pretty I’m seriously tempted to keep it for myself. But how am I going to get any work done on Wednesday, what with a housewarming for lunch and the kids’ first ever stage show from 3 p.m. onwards?

My boss, gift from heaven that she is, happily said, oh, don’t bother, just go have fun. With a boss like that, what more could one ask for?

And on Sunday, our cook came and cooked us a wonderful chicken biryani which we all carried with us for lunch today.

I actually managed to get to office at 8.30 this morning.

And the best part: On Friday evening, we catch an overnight sleeper bus that will take us to Devbagh! (Four nice pictures, click here.) Our last proper holiday with the kids was… I think it was Binsar, more than a year ago! After that, we’ve been to Calcutta, Pondicherry of course, and once to Cauvery Fishing Camp last October, but nothing significant really. So a holiday is more than overdue.